Is it possible to distribute an iPhone Web Application through the App Store?

Question

By Web Application I mean a web site targeted at Safari on the iPhone that can run \"off-line\" (by using a cache manifest file, JavaScript database, running full screen fro

Answer 1

Try PhoneGap, also checkout the Building iPhone Apps with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript book.

Answer 2

Is it possible to distribute an iPhone Web Application through the App Store?

To my knowledge, no it is not. Theoretically, you could use a UIWebView to allow the user to experience your iphone-webapp, but if you're a serious developer, the $1000 for a used MacBook and the $100 for an iPhone License are well worth it.

From a different perspective, the iPhone does allow custom links to your website by "Add To Homescreen". This gives the user nearly the same experience as with a native app.

From another perspective, you can achieve offline capability in a similar way to what Google does for Gmail/Reader/etc with its client-side cache/HTML 5.0 stuff.

MonoTouch - This technology has been getting tossed around SO recently, so you might want to check it out (non-OSX developement).

Answer 3

No only native apps can be deployed through the AppStore, I would look into the later option though. i.e. Develop a native app that provided a webkit surface. I think the trickiest bit would be exposing lower level iPhone functionality to the javascript engine.